World Cup 2026: Could Italy miss out after ‘torturous’ qualifying campaign?

When Italy lined up in the final against France 20 years ago, they did so with what was arguably the greatest team in the country’s history.

From Gianluigi Buffon and Cannavaro at the back to Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti in attack, manager Marcello Lippi had an embarrassment of riches at his disposal.

But a fourth triumph in the country’s history was anything but an overnight success; it was the product of a development model that no longer exists in Italian football.

The foundations were laid a decade earlier when the under-21s side – coached by Cesare Maldini – won three consecutive European Championships between 1992 and 1996.

The development of Maldini’s teams – which included Buffon, Cannavaro, Totti and Del Piero – was aided by a ruling in Serie A that prohibited clubs from having more than three non-European players on the pitch at one time.

It meant by the time the 1994 and 1996 championships rolled around, the quartet had already amassed a wealth of senior experience for clubs such as Parma, Napoli, Roma and Juventus.

But that all changed in 1995 when the Bosman ruling – a case which fought to improve the rights of European players – significantly altered the landscape of football on the continent.

As a result, Italy – and other European nations – had to relax their quota regulations, which led to an influx of overseas players heading to Serie A towards the end of the century.

It came at a cost as homegrown talents in the generations that followed found opportunities in the top flight increasingly hard to come by.

“As the years have gone on, Serie A clubs have relied more on foreign talent than local ones,” said Gates.

“You’d think that due to the lack of money in Serie A, clubs would rely on local talent more – but that’s not been the case.

“If anything, they’re relying more on young foreign talent than Italians.”

Where Italian football differs is in its financial struggles, with none of their clubs featuring in the top 10 in Deloitte’s list of the world’s top revenue-generating clubs.

While the Premier League clubs benefit from ever-increasing TV deals and other European leagues attract heavy investment, Serie A has seen that source of revenue stagnate.

Italian sides have failed to modernise their stadiums, which in turn affects their commercial operations. Revenue gaps have widened between them and leagues like the Premier League, making it harder to sign or keep top players.

Some of the league’s top clubs have reported substantial losses in recent years, with many forced to sacrifice investing in the future.

European football expert Julien Laurens told BBC Sport: “The academies in Italy are not producing enough players, or players who are fit to play in their first team. The way they spend their money is not what we are used to from Italian clubs.”

Former Italy forward Alessandro del Pierro told CBS: “It is the result of what has happened in Italy in the past years.

“The level of investment is low. Other markets have become much, much bigger than us.

“Problems? Stadiums. We know you have to perform better outside of the pitch [to improve] that. Youth systems as well.”

A telling stat is that only eight of the 487 goals in this season’s Champions League league phase were scored by Italians.